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Well the final leg of our trip was to Toledo Spain. We followed the Don Quixote route through the La Mancha region and were able to see the Spanish windmills. As we went our little Berlynn kept getting sicker and sicker. When we were getting ready to go and explore Toledo, Berlynn had an asthma attack and turned blue. Luckily the asthma plan we have for her worked and the medicine kicked in very quickly. She returned to normal and we were able to spend the day in Toledo. We had fun exploring Toledo, eating yummy food and watching swords being made.

However, in the evening Berlynn was still pretty sick that evening so we decided to head home and skip the part of our trip in France. It was a LONG trip home but we were still able to see things including the small mountainous country of Andorra.

Here are our photos of time in the La Mancha region.

Sevilla! One of our favorites cities of our trip to Spain. We started our day with a shuttle ride to the city center. Berlynn liked this, because even though the shuttle was simply a van, she didn’t have to have a car seat. Here is a picture of her so excited to be a big girl….though she was excited, saying “WEEEE” almost the whole way, Mom was a little just a little nervous…

We made it to Sevilla, in good time. We found the city center easily and started our day with a scavenger hunt.

First stop…. churros. We were able to find the little stand that we heard was the best place for churros, it is even rumored that when the king is in Sevilla he sends out for churros from this stand….they lived up to their hype, delicious!

After filling our bellies, we were off to explore the city. Knowing that the Spanish sleep in, our scavenger hunt had us explore the streets of the old Jewish quarter since none of the main attractions opened until 11:00. We had fun exploring the tiny, winding streets. We found out how the old palace and old city used to get water…through pipes that ran through the walls of the city that ran along Calle Agua. We found some “kissing lanes”, streets that are so narrow the buildings seem to kiss. We explored the world’s largest gothic cathedral and the 3rd largest church in the world. We went to the museum of flamenco dance and had the building practically to ourselves, so the kids put on a little flamenco show for us in the dance room. We found hidden faces in the Royal Alcazar, it was built by the moors, who were not allowed to put figures into their work…but a sneaky craftsmen put two tiny faces in this room.  It was a beautiful day and we ended it by stopping by the nun baked goods stores and got ourselves some yummy dulces.

After spending time at the Alhambra we headed up into the mountains for some time away from the big cities. We enjoyed time hiking between the white washed villages of the Alpujarra region. It was very beautiful and we had lots of fun spending time out it in the beautiful mountains of the Sierra Nevada. Though I think perhaps Grandma would have been a little nervous had she seen some of the “treacherous” trails we took…after we went awhile we realized we had  gotten off the actual hiking trail and we were following the mountain goat/sheep trail, no wonder there were such steep cliff edges….

After spending time in the mountains it was time to head back to the coast. We stayed in Algeciras, which is on the Spanish said of the Straight of Gibraltar. We had a great hotel and our room had a nice large balcony that over looked the Straight of Gibraltar. We were also able to enjoy some time down on the beach and in the water.

For Landyn’s 4th birthday we headed to Gibraltar. We were able to stand atop one of the “Pillars of Hercules” and look across the straight of Gibraltar and see Africa. We had a ton of fun going up the rock and seeing the caves and monkeys. After enjoying time on the rock, we headed out to sea to look for dolphins. What fun!

Happy 4th Birthday little guy! We hope you had a day to remember!!

After breaking camp in the pouring rain of Barcelona, we were ready to dry off during the drive to Valencia. Once checked in we headed straight to the bullfighting museum. We were lucky to not only be able to visit the  museum, but we were also able to join a tour group and go into the actual bullfighting arena. The kids enjoyed running around in the dirt pretending like Berlynn was the baby bull that was chasing them around. After the bull arena we tried to see a little more of Valencia, but alas the pouring rain sent us back to the hotel a little early. Though we did get to taste some yummy treats.

After spending one night in Valencia we headed to the Alhambra in Granada. What a beautiful palace and summer home! We spent the first few hours exploring the Generalife, which was the summer home of the royal family of the Alhambra. It also had the gardens, vegetable and flower. It was truly lovely and all the kids loved it!

Finally our entrance time, of 7:00 pm, arrived and we were able to go into the palace. The carvings were so amazing. Even the kids stopped to admire them. It was truly a neat place to visit and to learn more about Moorish history.

Here are a few more pictures from our time at the Alhambra.

For Spring Break we headed to Spain. We took the kids out of school 4 days early so that we could spend two whole weeks on our trip. We saw ALOT of Spain. And had a great time…even though we found out that the “rain in Spain stays mainly…” on the Booths.

One our way to Spain we stopped at Pont Du Gard in France. This was (still is) the tallest Roman aqueduct. After spending the morning there we had worked up an appetite and stopped at a road side place to get some sandwiches….they were very filling. Here is a picture of Craig with his, it was probably six to eight inches long.

When we finally arrived in Barcelona and set up the campground there was still time to make it to the beach. It was rather chilly but the kids were so excited that they didn’t seem to mind…until their little toes touched the water then they decided it would be best to just play on the beach and stay dry. We had a great time. And, besides one man fishing, we were the only ones on the beach.

After trying to get some sleep….the Spanish stay up very late so the campground was loud until a little after 3 am…we headed by train into Barcelona. As we traveled on the train it started raining…we hoped it would clear. But once we got out on the Las Ramblas we saw this wasn’t going to happen so we tried to just continue on. It then started to down pour. Let’s just say that we were drenched by the time the day was over. But we were able to see most of the things that we had set out to and the kids were very good considering the circumstances.